Morning Brief: Thursday, November 10, 2016

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We break from the race that many are still trying to get their head around and turn to one on this side of the border that’s starting to ramp up. Last night the first Conservative leadership debate was held, with the 12 contenders lined up to have their say. MP Kellie Leitch was keen to repeatedly proclaim her “common interests” with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. “I have common interests with Mr. Trump, screening being one of them,” she said several times, picking up where she left off in a fundraising email Tuesday night that told supporters Trump’s anti-elite message was one she was hoping to bring forward with her own campaign.

A Mainstreet Research telephone poll conducted on November 5 and 6 showed Leitch to be the preferred candidate in the race, with 19 per cent support among Conservative supporters — ahead of Andrew Scheer with 14 and Michael Chong with 12.

Earlier yesterday Chong said Leitch’s Trump-wannabe approach was ‘a mistake’ for the party and a losing strategy.

As for Leitch’s ‘all things Canadian’ kindred spirit, Steven Blaney stayed on the offence through much of the debate — slighting Chong as a “liberal” and accusing Maxime Bernier of taking “intellectual short cuts” over supply management. Our Janice Dickson has more.

Still with races, Ontario Conservative MPP Lisa MacLeod is facing a challenge in her bid to be the party’s candidate in Nepean in the 2018 election. She’s represented the riding for 10 years, but is now being challenged by Ottawa businessman Riven Zhang, who launched his campaign for the nomination on social media Sunday. Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown has promised to hold open nominations, but there are signs that Zhang’s bid for the nomination is causing distress for Brown and MacLeod. Johnson’s got that story as well.

The prime minister’s office has confirmed in an email that Justin Trudeau spoke with President-Elect Donald Trump yesterday. The two men stressed the importance of the relationship between the two countries and Trudeau invited Trump to visit Canada. Trump extended the same invitation to Trudeau, the PMO said. A senior source described the chat as a “very good call” and suggested it went better than the Liberal leader had expected. But as CP’s Joan Bryden reports, the two men’s prescriptions for what ails the middle class — and their manner of appealing for its votes — couldn’t be more different. And that portends a potentially prickly relationship between them for at least the next four years.

Turning to trade, as hope dims for the future of the Trans-Pacific Partnership under a Trump presidency, Canada’s ambassador to the United States says the government is prepared to discuss improvements to the North American Free Trade Agreement. While David MacNaughton, appointed by Trudeau in March, wasn’t prepared to speculate on what issues Canada might be interested in discussing with regards to NAFTA, he said officials are willing to have those conversations at the negotiating table. Our Amanda Connolly reports.

In Ontario, Tuesday’s election results have left Premier Kathleen Wynne uneasy. Given how many of the province’s exports head south of the border, Trump’s threats and talk of isolationism leaves it vulnerable. “The protectionist discussion that really was a very important part of the election campaign, I don’t think it’s good for Ontario, I don’t think it’s good for Canada,” she said in an interview at her Queen’s Park office on Wednesday. “Our economies are integrally linked.” More from the Globe and Mail.

HERE AND THERE

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be in Sydney to officially open a Veterans Affairs office. He will be accompanied by Minister of Veterans Affairs Kent Hehr.

Minister of Science Kirsty Duncan will deliver an address to the Canadian Science Policy Conference in Ottawa, highlighting advances made in the science portfolio during her first year in office. She’ll also present the 2016 Canadian Science Policy Awards of Excellence in the Youth Category.

In Dartmouth, there will be a Trans-Pacific Partnership town hall forum with Canadian Labour Congress president Hassan Yussuff and Maude Barlow, Chairperson of The Council of Canadians.

In Shawinigan, Francois-Philippe Champagne, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance, holds a pre-budget consultation for Budget 2017.

Statistics Canada releases the new housing price index for September and prostitution offences in Canada: Statistical trends, 2014.

Gov. Gen. David Johnston presides over an Order of Military Merit investiture ceremony at Rideau Hall.

ELSEWHERE

Across the United States last night, anti-Trump protests flared up, with thousands taking to the streets shouting: “Not my president.” In New York, an estimated 5,000 people made their way to Trump Tower in Manhattan. It was the same scene outside the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago. One college student showed CNN a sign that said, “I still can’t believe I have to protest for civil rights.” It was a quieter scene in front of the White House, where a candlelight vigil for Clinton supporters drew those who wanted to mourn their election loss.

Meanwhile, word is the West Wing is pondering the apocalypse. Panic is said to have taken hold after Trump’s upset victory. As our friends at Politico report: “The freakout has been kept in check — in public, at least. Obama stood calmly on Wednesday afternoon promising a smooth transition, coolly urging supporters and disappointed voters to nurse their wounds and get back into the arena. The world order has been shaken. Everything that everyone thought they knew about politics is wrong.”

Bernie Sanders has also shared his two cents worth on the election outcome, putting out a statement last evening. The Vermont senator said he’s he is willing to work with Trump, but made no qualms about having zero tolerance for his most extreme proposals. “To the degree that Mr. Trump is serious about pursuing policies that improve the lives of working families in this country, I and other progressives are prepared to work with him. To the degree that he pursues racist, sexist, xenophobic and anti-environment policies, we will vigorously oppose him,” Sanders said.

In Cuba, residents are concerned the steps forward that have been made over the last two years in mending a relationship with the United States are about to start moving in the other direction. In what’s surely not unrelated news, the Cuban government has announced the launch of five days of nationwide military exercises to prepare troops to confront what it called “a range of actions by the enemy,” using terminology that almost always refers to the U.S.

IN FEATURED OPINION THIS MORNING

At this point, you might be praying for a break from all the Trumpocalypse doom and gloom. So are we. But it’s not like anyone’s thinking about anything else right now, so …

In most parts of the world, Trump’s win has left people shocked, gobsmacked and concerned. While many didn’t see Trump’s win coming, it turns out the Simpsons, which has a knack of predicting the future, called this one 16 years ago — as a warning to America.